Hydrodynamics of Ceramic Sponges in Countercurrent Flow

A broad range of ceramic sponge types regarding porosity, pore Size, and material was investigated experimentally in order to determine liquid holdup as well as wet pressure drop and operation limits: The observed values for the holdup are higher than those for state-of-the-art random and structured packings. The onset of flooding occurs at relatively low gas loads, but the operation range can be significantly enlarged by using a sponge with a cone shaped bottom as,drainage enhancer. Effects of stacking can be Shown especially for the static liquid holdup. Possible applications are, for example, reactive rectification, where the continuous solid and the Ceramic material as catalyst carrier are of advantage. The experimental Values are compared with established correlations from the literature for conventional column internals. In general; those are able to describe the behavior of sponge structures, although the deviations are bigger than observed for other column internals.